JP3071906B2 - Light microscope - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical microscope provided with an illumination head that comes into contact with an object to be inspected such as a metal or a fiber in order to inspect and observe the surface of the object.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, as an example of this type of optical microscope, one shown in a sectional view of FIG.
308527). Rings 18 are provided on both sides in the axial direction on the outer surface of the inner cylinder 1 having a window in the center of the cylinder.
a, an outer cylinder 2 having a window at a central portion thereof via 18b
Are arranged. Between the rings 18a, 18b and the inner cylinder 1, a cylindrical optical member 6 for guiding light from a light source (not shown) into the inner cylinder 1 is provided. Inside the inner cylinder 2, the objective lens 4 a,
The optical system provided with 4b is slidably provided in the optical axis direction (the direction of the arrow).

On the outer peripheral surface of the outer cylinder 2, a turning rod 17 having a cylindrical shape and having a spiral sliding groove on the inner peripheral surface is disposed, and the cover 5 is disposed on the outer peripheral surface of the turning rod 17. The cover 5 and the turning rod 17 are fixed by fixing screws 15. Frame 3
The tip of the detent pin 14 is screwed into a part of the outer peripheral surface of
This rear end is fitted in the sliding groove of the turning rod 17. A turning rod fixing ring 11 is fixed at the end of the turning rod 17 and between the cover 5 and the outer cylinder 2.

A contact type illumination head 7 is in contact with the ends (left end in the figure) of the inner cylinder 1 and the outer cylinder 2, and this and the outer cylinder 2 are held by a holding ring
It is fixed by. A packing 25 is provided between the illumination head 7 and the outer cylinder 2. In the drawing, reference numeral 12 denotes a light receiving element, and reference numeral 13 denotes an inspection object.

In such a configuration, to adjust the focus of the objective lenses 4a and 4b, the turning rod 17 is rotated by rotating the cover 5 so that the turning rod 17 is rotated.
Locking pin 1 along the sliding groove 17a formed in
4 moves forward and backward while sliding, the objective lens 4
Since the frame 3 having a and 4b moves in the optical axis direction, it is possible to focus on the inspection object 13.

[0006]

In the above-described conventional optical microscope, even if the inspection object 13 has irregularities even if it is relatively small, it can be observed without any problem. That is, as shown in the upper hole in FIG.
When the focus is adjusted by the turning rod 17 within the adjustment range a3, the focus can be adjusted by rotating the turning rod 17.

However, when the inspection object 13 has large irregularities, such as the lower hole in FIG.
In the case of the inspection object 13 which is covered by the transparent shield as shown in FIG. Again,
As described above, the turning rod 17 is rotated, and the objective lenses 4a and 4b supported by the frame 3 are moved back and forth to focus. Since the unevenness depth a2 'of the inspection object 13 is larger than the focus adjustment range a3 by the turning rod 17, focusing cannot be performed by the turning rod 17 alone. In addition, the inspection object 1
3 is smaller than the adjustment range a3, so there is no problem.

For this reason, it is necessary to replace the contact type illumination head 7 with one shorter than the one currently mounted, or to use a non-contact type illumination head (not shown).

However, it is difficult to replace the contact-type illumination head 7 when observing the unevenness of the same inspection object 13, and when using a non-contact type illumination head, the fulcrum cannot be determined if it is used by hand. Observation is difficult due to camera shake.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an optical microscope capable of observing an object to be inspected having an unevenness exceeding a focusing range due to rotation of a turning rod, which is a problem in the prior art. .

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a microscope body having a light source, a light guide member for guiding light from the light source, and an illumination system having an optical system for condensing the light. By mounting the head body, movably mounting the illumination head to the tip of the illumination head body in the optical axis direction, and moving the optical system in the optical axis direction with the illumination head in contact with the inspection object. And an optical microscope capable of focusing on the inspection object.

[0012]

According to the present invention, the contact type illumination head is attached to the illumination head body so as to be movable in the optical axis direction.
Observation is possible even for an object having large irregularities.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Here, the same parts as those of the conventional example of FIG. A description will be mainly given of a configuration in which the lens 7 is movable in the optical axis direction. A cylindrical ring 21 is provided slidably in the axial direction on one end of the cylindrical inner cylinder 1, that is, on the outer peripheral surface of the left end in the figure, and a light guide member having flexibility on the outer peripheral surface of the ring 21. 6, the cylindrical ring 10 is fixed, and thereby, 21, 6, and 10 are integrated.

The ring 10 has a step on the outer peripheral surface at one end thereof, a male screw 10a is formed on the step, and a collar 10b is formed on a part of the other end. On the other hand, a collar 2a is formed at a part of one end of the outer cylinder 2, and the collar 2a
Is in contact with the collar 10b of the ring 10.

The end faces of the rings 10, 21 and the light guide member 6 are in contact with a flange 7 a of a substantially conical illumination head 7, which are fixed by a holding ring 8.
The holding ring 8 has a hole 8a formed on the bottom surface of the bottomed cylinder so that the cylindrical portion of the illumination head 7 is inserted therein, and a female screw which can be screwed with the male screw 10a of the ring 10 on the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion. 8b are formed. Therefore, the illumination head 7 is integrally fixed to the ring 10 by screwing the female screw 8b of the holding ring 8 to the male screw 10a of the ring 10. On the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion of the holding ring 8 and the outer peripheral surface of the left end of the outer cylinder 2, the coiled spring 9 is in a compressed state, that is, the illumination head 7 is always kept away from the objective lenses 4 a and 4 b of the optical system. It is arranged so that an elastic force acts in the direction.

With the optical microscope configured as described above,
When observing the test object 13 having irregularities, the contact illumination head 7 may be brought into contact with the test object 13 to such an extent that the spring 9 does not bend, the turning rod 17 may be rotated, and focusing may be performed.

Further, when observing the bottom side of the concave portion of the object 13 to be inspected (the deep side of the concave portion), the focus cannot be adjusted even by rotating the rotary rod 17 and adjusting by moving the objective lenses 4a and 4b. In this case, by pressing the microscope body against the inspection object 13 and bending the spring 9, the apparent focus position moves to the deep side of the concave portion of the inspection object 13. Therefore, only in the range in which the illumination head 7 can move,
Compared with a conventional microscope, the focusing range in the depth direction of the inspection object 13 increases, and the application range increases.

More specifically, in FIG. 6A, b1 indicates the total focus adjustment range of the illumination head 7 and the turning rod 17 of the present embodiment. It can be seen that the depth is larger than the maximum depth a2 of the uneven portion. The light guide member 6 also bends as the illumination head 13 moves.
There is no problem in durability if it is within the allowable flexibility range.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a second embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment shown in FIG.
When it is necessary to always move the screw in the right direction in FIG. 1 and fix it, a female screw is formed in the ring 10 as shown in FIG. 2 to form slits in the outer cylinder 2 and the turning rod fixing ring 11, respectively. The fixing screw 23 is provided in this portion.

With this configuration, if the fixing screw 23 is tightened at a desired position within the movable range of the illumination head 7, the illumination head 7 can be always moved rightward in FIG. it can.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a third embodiment of the present invention. The difference from the first embodiment is that the coil-shaped spring 9 of FIG. In order to obtain the function, it is as follows. That is, an elastic member 16 such as a wave washer is provided between the flange at the end of the contact type illumination head 7 and the outer cylinder 2 in a state of being constantly compressed.

According to the third embodiment of the present invention, the same operation and effect as those of the first embodiment can be obtained. That is, with the illumination head in contact with the inspection object 13,
Adjust 7 to focus. In this case, when the adjustment by the turning rod 17 is released and the focus is further set on the concave side of the inspection object 13, the microscope body is pressed against the inspection object 13 to bend the elastic member 16. In this embodiment, there is always a gap between the end face of the optical member 6 and the illumination head 13 that is the movable range b1 of the illumination head 7, which causes a loss of light quantity. There is no problem if the light source is adjusted so that the light amount can be obtained.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention, and differs from the third embodiment in the following points. That is, the lighting head 7 is fixed to the holding ring 8, the female screw 8 b is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the holding ring 8, and the male screw 2 b is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the outer cylinder 2, so that both can be screwed together. It is.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, since the illumination head 7 moves in the optical axis direction by rotating the holding ring 8, focusing can be performed at a desired position within the movable range b1 of the illumination head 7. Becomes

[0025]

According to the present invention described above, the contact type illumination head is configured to be movable in the optical axis direction with respect to the main body. An optical microscope capable of observing an inspection object having the above irregularities can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an illumination optical system of a first embodiment of an optical microscope according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an illumination optical system according to a second embodiment of the optical microscope according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an illumination optical system of a third embodiment of the optical microscope according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing an illumination optical system according to a fourth embodiment of the optical microscope according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing an illumination optical system of an example of a conventional optical microscope.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the problems of the conventional microscope and the operation and effect of the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Inner cylinder, 2 ... Outer cylinder, 3 ... Frame, 4a, 4b ... Lens, 5
... Cover, 6 ... Light guide member, 7 ... Contact type illumination head, 8 ...
Holding ring, 9: spring, 10: ring, 11: turning rod fixing ring, 12: light receiving element, 13: inspection object, 1
4 ... detent pin, 15 ... fixing screw, 16 ... elastic member,
17 ... turning rod, 18a, 18b ... ring, 2a ... brim,
2b: male screw, 8a: hole, 8b: female screw.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G02B 21/00 G02B 21/06-21/36

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An illumination head body having a light source, a light guide member for guiding light from the light source, and an optical system for condensing the light is attached to a microscope body, and an illumination head is attached to a tip of the illumination head body. An optical microscope capable of focusing on the object by moving the optical system in the direction of the optical axis while the illumination head is in contact with the object to be inspected while movably mounted in the direction of the optical axis. .